I highly doubt they have the need to increase margins at this point, since the "tabletop" for the NQ has diminished significantly over the past 2 years...The volatility is nowhere near what it was in 2000, it only makes sense that the numbers suggest that lower margins are on the way...

"Now you can trade 4 contracts with a $10k account instead of just 3! ;-) "

I know Aaron is kidding here, but seriously, I never understood why people get so concerned about the margin requirements for ES/NQ trading. The leverage of these contracts is already huge! If you are any good at trading, 1 ES can rapidly earn you the profts needed to move from 1 contract to 2. If you aren't good at trading, why would you want lower margins allowing you to trade 2 contracts right off the bat? So you can blow out twice as fast? If you dont even have the funds to meet the exchange's suggested margin amounts, then you should probably be working at a job and continuing to paper trade. Dont go looking for some cut-rate broker who will let you trade the ES for $1500.